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Tuesday, December 12, 2017

To
date, I have written four novellas set in the American West where at
their heart is the Christmas season, its traditions and expectations.
Two are contemporary, A Montana Christmas and Diana's Journey, and two are historical, Rose's Giftand Frederica's Heart. There are also two historical, short stories, Blue Mountain Christmas and Connie's Gift, which were written for anthologies, one of which no longer exists.

The
idea came to put the six into a collection just for the season and
price it at 99¢. Sometime in January, it will be withdrawn (maybe to
return next Christmas). This book is intended to be a Christmas special, available only at
Amazon and Google Play and for one month. Each of these stories has a different aspect of the season.
The stories catch people at different points in their lives from
relatively young to getting old and from the late 1800s to today. [available at Amazon: Christmas from the Heart AnthologyorGoogle Play: Christmas from the Heart Anthology]

As a writer, putting
Christmas into a book has pluses and minuses. It is a holiday
filled with more than the usual number of expectations. In a book, those
can distract from other plot elements when if it's not part of the plot and
character development. Important religiously and
culturally. There are many ways to celebrate it.

Most
have read how we got Christmas trees, how far back the tradition comes
and decorating it from Germany, but not so many maybe on when they
became part of American family traditions.

"Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first
record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers
of Pennsylvania,
although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier.
The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as
1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan
symbols and not accepted by most Americans." from http://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees

In 1885-86, when I wanted my second Arizona historical, Tucson Moon, to have Christmas as part of the book, some of the traditions weren't all that old. Dickens had written A Christmas Carol in 1843. You might be surprised that the song, Up on the Housetop, was written in 1864 (Gene Autry, however, sang the ultimate version of it in 1953). There were though other, less traditional ways of celebrating the birth of Christ.

Tucson Moonis not only a love story but a father's need to
connect with his 9-year old daughter, Grace, whom he hasn't seen since she was
born. I was looking for something that would expand the season's
emotional meaning. It turned out it wasn't hard to find, since one of
the secondary characters (later to have his own romance with Arizona Dawn) was Yaqui.The
Yaquis have a part of their reservation in the heart of Tucson, Pascua.
With part of their tribe in Arizona and part still in Mexico, they are a
people of mysticism, rich mythologies, Catholicism, and have blended
these into their rituals for today.

The
Arizona State Museum has a section devoted to the major tribes of
Arizona, and the Yaqui one is quite interesting. Because of my interest, I
have non-fiction books on various aspects of their culture. Probably
the best known books regarding Yaqui mysticism are the Carlos
Castaneda books, which may or may not have a factual aspect. To add a
Yaqui Christmas celebration to my historical romance enriched the story
but also was fun for me in the research.

As
background, to understand the short snippet, Cord and Priscilla are the
hero and heroine of the book. With Grace, Rafe, his
deputy, and several friends, they have come to observe the celebration
held the night before Christmas in Pascua. The description I include
here is trying to stay true to what I have read and understood of this meaningful ritual.

***********

As
the drums and rattles grew louder, a slender boy entered the room, shuffling
his feet with a little dance step, the head of a deer on his head, his chest
bare. On his ankles were rattles. He moved cautiously around the room, now and
then jumping in the air but always watching the edges as though for a threat.
At times he stopped as though eating. As he passed near them, Priscilla glanced
at Grace to see her eyes widened with wonder.

From
one side came two more dancers, wearing what appeared to be wolf or coyote masks.
They had bells attached to their bodies. The deer sensed the danger, reacted,
and the trio stealthily circled.

When
the speaker began talking in Yaqui, Rafe moved back to whisper, loud enough for
Grace to also hear, “This is the struggle of the forest, the wilderness, good
and evil, light and dark, that of nature. For Easter, it would go on longer,
but this is Christmas, where the season is about rebirth and joy; so the deer
will not be a sacrifice and therefore escapes.”

And
he did, as the coyotes continued to circle, mystified where the deer had gone before
they too vanished. “In some ceremonies,” Rafe said, “The deer will be killed by
hunters as a symbol of the sacrifice that is required for life to go on for the
people.”

“It
was beautiful,” Ellen said smiling up at him.

The
people in the room moved toward the heavily laden table of food. Merriment was
all around them as families reconnected and shared best wishes. “Did you like
it?” Cord asked as he came to stand by Priscilla and Grace.Grace
was still wide-eyed. “I’d like to dance like that,” she said with a wistful
expression.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Victorian Christmas trees were
amazing. Instead of using a live tree, the Victorians borrowed
the German-style tree that was small, made of wood dowels, and covered in
feathers. Could they possibly be responsible
for the acceptance of our artificial trees today? Then the German beautiful blown glass ornaments decorated these trees. They are often copied
today making it even more difficult to know the difference between the new
stuff from the truly old stuff. These shiny, colorful
ornaments became the rage throughout Europe and then here in the USA. The other
ornaments that were popular were colorful birds made of stuffing and feathers.
And of course the required candles to light the tree.

As a child, I thought those pictures
of the trees with candles burning on them were scary. What I didn't know
was it was very rare they were lit for more than a minute to two. It was a big
ceremony to light the tree, sing a little Christmas song while admiring them
and then quickly snuff all those candles. No one blew the candles out because
of the chance of blowing a spark onto the tree and setting it on fire. So they
used candlesnuffers. Plus there were probably several buckets of water waiting
as a precaution.

But to those folks living in the West, many did not have such frivolities nor could they afford them. Those in towns were more apt to have a tree like we might imagine. Still by
today's standards, the Christmas trees then could be fairly comparable to
today's if we consider how many times we've copied from the past with today's
versions of Victorian or the primitive country-style. The big difference is
those electrical strings of lights. The old trees with their tinfoil ornaments
and those lovely flat lead ones made to look like snowflakes or stars, and strings of
candy or nuts, were quite lovely. Maybe those who didn't put much emphasis on
fancy decorations and never saw a visitor over the holiday except for those who
worked the ranch, had less gilding, but it was a safer tree without all that
lead - they didn't know a thing about how dangerous lead was.

Anyone remember the lead tinsel
as a child? I do. It was so much "nicer" than the cellophane stuff we
buy today that floats around the house and seems to reappear in the strangest
places and at various times until well after Easter. But Easter grass has the same
magical quality of lingering. When I think about all those times I handled that
lead tinsel as a small child - oh-h-h.

Ranching was a tough business. And
in places, trees were not exactly easily obtained. So feather trees were a
great alternative, but they didn't catch on until the latter part of the
1800's. Feathers were abundant from those wild birds the family ate and from
the chickens raised for food. The trunk made from a wooden dowel, could be
covered in crinkled paper to make it look more like a tree and not just a plain
dowel. Or sometimes this artificial tree trunk was covered in more feathers.
But I'm also certain that a sturdy branch would also work very well. Ornaments
were made of wood, paper, nuts, candy, or any sort of beans or cranberries or
other small fruit that had been dried. Yes, paper chains, but also little paper
cornucopias were filled with sweetmeats. Think mini cookies or cupcakes for sweetmeats - it's
the sweetbreads that were a meat dish. Isn't our language confusing?

If the family lived in the woods,
pinecones were often gathered in the spring and saved until Christmas to
decorate the house. To make the pinecones look special, they might be painted
with a little leftover barn paint and tipped in white from another project. Oh
more lead paint, how did they survive? I guess the same way I did. Don't eat
it. Anything could become a decoration for the tree. Ribbons were
frequently found on the Christmas trees because they could be obtained in just
about every color and many times with gold or silver woven in them. They easily
wrapped a branch and were tied into a bow. No lights on the tree until that
fabulous illumination on Christmas Eve or Christmas.

The pinecones were then saved and
used as fire-starter for the fireplace or kitchen stove. I wonder if that
means the lead from the paint on them became airborne and was now in their
food? I'm not a chemist so I have no clue but that's the way my mind works.

But if the family had recently put
a tin roof on the house, outbuilding, or barn they might have pieces of tin
leftover. Then they could take tin snips and cut stars and other favorite
shapes from the tin. Tin didn't shine as pretty as the bright side of aluminum
foil, but it could be polished to closely resemble it. No fancy store bought
polish was needed, just plain ashes taken from the wood or coal stove, mixed
with a few drops of water, lots of what my grandparents called elbow grease,
and almost anything could shine. I'm certain many a man wanted to surprise the
occupants of the house with lovely little tree ornaments so he would get up
from his evening supper and disappear into the barn to cut and polish some
stars.

And if he wasn't doing that, he was
carving tiny wooden ornaments from whatever wood he might have. It was not
unusual for the wooden ornaments to represent a family member. If someone had
sailed over on a ship, they might carve that or it could be that someone was
fascinated with them. Frequently the ornaments represented farm animals or a baby's bed
possibly to celebrate an upcoming birth, baby's first year, or to remember the
child that was lost.

If it had been an exceptional good
year, the wife might have one or more of those beautiful glass ornaments from
Germany to hang on the tree. Hand crocheted snowflakes, little embroidered
items that had been stitched and framed or stuffed like a patchwork quilt became a decoration. Even
the simple clothespin could be converted to a tree ornament.

How do we know some of this? Frugal
grandparents that managed to save these old items or collected them at garage
sales or estate sales. Many have been donated to their local museum, and in a
few cases, they are still being used on a tree because someone is interested in
these items from yesteryear that had been passed down through the generations.
They could be elaborate or plain depended on the skill of whoever was making it. But you can
be assured that it was made with love.

***

My
second full-length western historical A Rancher Dream has a scene in it where
Christmas is described and you'll see the difference where Tiago thinks about his wealthy family's Christmas tree compared to the Coleman's Christmas tree.

A week before
Christmas, Joseph found a pine tree, cut it down, and brought it inside. The
children decorated it with bits of colored paper. Tiago took a scrap piece of
tin from the barn and polished it with ashes from the stove before cutting it
into strips, punching a small hole in each one, and twirling them. Alisa loved
the shiny objects, and hung them on the tree with bits of ribbon.

It was a poor
man’s Christmas, but no one seemed to notice. His family had a beautiful tree
that went almost to the ceiling and was covered in imported ornaments from
Spain and Italy. On Christmas Eve, when family and friends gathered at the
house, his mother and father would light the tiny candles that covered it. It
was magical even as an adult.

In the Coleman
house, the women made cookies and sang songs as they prepared for the holiday.
Lydia’s boys asked for trains and when he heard that they weren’t getting very
much, he threatened Ingrid to stay in the house while he retreated to the barn.
With only a few woodworking tools, he managed to make trains for the boys cut
from some pieces of scrap lumber. They were solid and sturdy. He used a heated
rod and decorated the plain wood. They weren’t fancy trains, but the wheels
turned and he was certain Lydia’s boys had enough imagination to enjoy the
primitive toys.

This Christmas as you decorate your tree for the holidays, remember what once was. Just as we remember the origin of each ornament. It was the same for our previous generations. The difference today is that Popsicle stick decoration that your little one has made probably looks better then the twig one made a hundred and forty ago or maybe not.

Friday, December 8, 2017

By Celia Yeary

Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

"Buffalo Soldiers" was the name given by the Plains Indians to the four regiments of African-Americans and more particularly to the two cavalry regiments, that served on the frontier in the post-Civil War army. White officers commanded the black enlisted men, with the exception of one African American commander, Henry O. Flipper.

RE-ENACTMENT AT FORT DAVIS, TEXAS

From 1866 to the early 1890s the buffalo soldiers served at a variety of posts in Texas, the Southwest and the Great Plains. They overcame prejudice from within the army and from the frontier communities they were stationed in, to compile an outstanding service record. Often they performed routine garrison chores, patrolled the frontier, built roads, escorted mail parties, and handled a variety of difficult civil and military tasks.

They also distinguished themselves in action against the Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Sioux, and Arapaho Indians.

In 1997, a movie made for TV titled "Buffalo Soldiers, starred Danny Glover. The fact based story told about the all-black US Cavalry Troop H which protected the Western territories in post Civil War times. The story focuses on the troops' attempts to capture an Apache warrior named Vittorio who slaughters the settlers in New Mexico. The film examines the racial tensions that existed between the black soldiers and some of the white soldiers and the truths about the Indian invaders.

BOOK

At the end of the Civil War, thousands of black soldiers who had participated faced unemployment and homelessness. The most intriguing black who looked at the military as a source of income and security happened to be a woman. Cathay Williams, the future female Buffalo Soldier, decided it was much better than infrequent civilian unemployment. She said, "I wanted to make my own living and not be dependent on relations or friends."

Cathay Williams caught a break when recruiting efforts concentrated on filling quotas with little regard for the recruit's capability and soldiering skills. The army surgeon might have examined Cathay superficially, or not at all. William Cathay, the new recruit, was declared "fit for duty", thus giving assurance of her place in history as the only documented female Buffalo Soldier, and as the only African-American woman who served in theU.S. army prior to the 1948 law allowing women to serve.

CATHAY WILLIAMS

Cathay became ill and left her regiment. When she learned she was being hunted for desertion, she simply donned dresses and changed her name back to Cathay Williams.

~*~*~*~

The Buffalo Soldiers had the lowest desertion rate in the army, though their army posts were often in the worst part the west. Official reports show these soldiers were frequently subjected to the harshest of discipline, racist officers, poor food, equipment, and shelter.

Regiments of Buffalo Soldiers fought in the country's wars until 1951 when the last African American unit was desegregated.

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Jane
Arminda Delano heeded the call from New York’s Dr. Thomas Darlington, an old
family friend and went to a “dusty mining camp in the Arizona Territory,”
sometime in 1886. She may have been there a few months or upwards of three
years for the record is lacking. Born in Montour Falls, New York in March of
1862, she was daughter of Union General George Delano and Mary Wright Delano
and younger sister of Ada. The death of Jane’s father in the fever driven death
march to the Battle of New Orleans inspired her to train at Bellevue Hospital
to become a nurse.

Photo by TripAdvisor

In
Bisbee, she had to deal with the ravages of yellow fever, typhoid and other conditions
among her patients. Raw sewage, human and animal, ran downhill from the miners’
shacks and contaminated tent camps, canals and cabins below. Tombstone Creek
carried the germ-infested liquids further afield. The sewer system wouldn’t be
built until 1919. Jane would also have treated broken bones injured backs,
crushed limbs and burns from mining accident victims. An advocate of public
health nursing, she instructed wives, mothers and madams in caring for their
own and neighbors in home visits. Issues of sanitation, nutrition, wound care
and illness came naturally to her.

One
fabled incident from her time in Bisbee has survived:

“All
one long dark night she lay awake, listening to a mystifying. terrifying sound
just outside her hut. It seemed to come, inch by inch, closer to her window.
She watched the intense blackness lighten with the dawn, expecting to see the
evil face of a marauder. When daybreak came, after an infinity of waiting for
the realization of her terrors, she discovered that it was only her burro
rubbing his sides against the corrugated tin walls of her shack.”*

The
first Copper Queen Hospital was held in an abandoned mine cave in the hillside,
probably the original Glory Hole. This would have been the “hospital” in which
Miss Delano served. Later, perhaps around 1888 and under Dr. Darlington’s
direction, the next hospital, usually referred to as the “first,” was made of
cardboard and was called “the cracker box.” It is hard to imagine how such a
structure stood the test of bad weather unless treated with a chemical
concoction.

She pushed for
professional nursing training and recognition for women.Until this time, most nurses were men and
women were seen as less than charwomen or slops-pan attendants, despite skills
developed in the habits of homemakers and battlefield caregivers over the
centuries. Miss Delano went on to teach nursing as the RN degree evolved at New
York’s Bellevue Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania

As
pestilence and war raged in the southeast with the beginnings of the Spanish
American War, Jane Delano ventured into the swamps of Florida; commandeering
mosquito netting, she was among the first to drape it over the multitudes of
deathly ill typhoid and yellow fever patients. It was a time and place when no
one in their right mind would have gone; she’d been there before Bisbee, and
knew what to expect. She insisted on sterile living environments for her cadre
of nurses, including the mosquito nets to protect them.

Little is known of her
private life. She took time from her teaching and nursing experience to care
for her elderly mother in the early 1900’s. She spent much time gardening,
reading to her mother and visiting with friends at their homes in New York and
Charlottesville, Virginia. Other than men she worked with over the years,
there’s no insight to be found as to romantic liaisons with men or women. She
appears to have led an independent, single life.

After
1900, this champion of professional nursing was called to be the First
Superintendent of Women Nurses in the Army Medical Corps (1905-1912) Her
resignation was accepted by Major General (Doctor) Leonard Wood who described
her thus:

“…gained
confidence (of officials) by her sober, solid judgment and by her willingness
to consider opposing viewpoints…usually able to get her recommendations through.”**

Jane’s
career with the American Red Cross was to once again lead the way in developing
the women’s nursing unit of that organization. She gave her energies over to
organizing, recruiting and training as well as the myriad administrative
responsibilities necessitated by a brand new organization. Mary Clark, author
of the missing biography of the exceptional Miss Delano, is quoted in the
History of the American Red Cross; she saw her friend as:

“…of
such uprightness of character, purity of life and good judgment, that they (her
staff) could be relied on to do the discreet and right thing wherever
placed.”**

Aside from charming and
uniquely elegant wordage of the early 20th century, Miss Delano
emerges as a very special person in any language.

In January 1919, Nurse Delano sailed to France for an
inspection tour of America Red Cross hospitals before they evacuated. Her
intent was to evaluate the conditions the nurses worked under and the needs of
locals for continuing public health services.; she planned to make programmatic
recommendations. She was worn, tired out, and had a sore throat and ear
troubles. She entered Base Hospital #69, in Savenay, France, was operated on
several times for rmastoiditis but the doctors held little hope for her recovery.

She
died on April 15. 1919.Jane Arminda
Delano’s last words were:

“My work, my work, I must get back to my
work.”*

She
was buried in France until brought back to a heroine’s burial at Arlington
National Cemetery. An award in her name is given annually to a deserving nurse
at the Cochise County Hospital, formerly known as the Copper Queen Hospital, in
Bisbee, Arizona. A daughter of the world, Jane Arminda Delano found a brief yet
lasting place as a Sweetheart of the West.

___________________________________________________________________________________Arletta Dawdy writes from Sonoma County, CA of unusual women. Her historic tales are set in Cochise County, AZ She draws on family history, extensive research, and a strong imagination..The Huachuca Trilogy books are available on Amazon. She is currently at work on BISBEE'S GLORY.